Dota 2/Ostarion the Wraith King

File:Dota 2 skeleton king.png Skeleton King
Base stats and attributes
Strength		22+2.9
Agility		18+1.7
Intelligence		13+1.6
Base damage		32-34
Move speed		300
Armor		3.52
Statistics
Level	1	16	25
Hit Points	568	1339	2270
Mana	169	460	928
Damage	54-56	95-97	144-146
Armor	4	7	12
Sight Range	1800/800
Attack Range	128
Missile Speed	N/A

Skeleton King is a melee Strength hero that is considered one of the simpler characters in the game, with only one active ability. However, he is still a very solid and fun hard carry, and one that is very difficult to kill. His Vampiric Aura and Reincarnation abilities gives Skeleton King amazing survivability, and his Hellfire Blast and Critical Strike lets him disable and rack up the damage. Skeleton King might look like the easiest hero to play in the game, but he can also be one of the toughest.

Abilities

Hellfire Blast

File:Dota 2 sk2 hellfire blast.png

• Ability: Target Unit
• Affects: Enemy Heroes
• Damage Type: Magical
• Damage: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200
• Stun Duration: 2
• Slow: 20%
• Damage Over Time: 15 / 30 / 45 / 60
• Slow Duration: 2
• Mana Cost: 140
• Cooldown: 8

Hellfire Blast is Skeleton King's only active ability. He fires a ball of hellfire that stuns the targeted unit on hit, then slows them and deals damage over time. Use this to initiate a kill, slow down pursuing enemies as well as disabling key heroes. You can also use it for harssment but the mana cost will be too high during the early game for it to be very useful.

Vampiric Aura

File:Dota 2 sk2 vampiric aura.png

• Ability: Passive, Aura
• Affects: Allies
• Lifesteal: 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%

Vampiris Aura grants lifesteal for melee units in a 900 radius area of effect. At level 4 it gives you and your allies 30% lifesteal. For comparison, Satanic only grants a 25% lifesteal for the user, making Vampiric Aura the best passive lifesteal ability. Additionally, it is fully stackable with lifesteal-granting items and unique attack modifiers like the Mask of Madness and Broodmother's Insatiable Hunger.

Mortal Strike

File:Dota 2 sk2 critical strike.png

• Ability: Target Unit, Passive
• Critical Damage: 125% / 175% / 225% / 275%
• Critical Chance: 15%
• HP Drain: 20%
• Drain Duration: 7
• Mana Cost: 30
• Cooldown: 25

Mortal Strike simply gives you a chance to do extra damage. Although it doesn't have the best activation chance or bonus damage, it still gives you a nice boost to your damage output. It also has an active component that lets you temporarily drain a portion of the targeted unit's max health for yourself before returning it after a set duration. You will be unable to get the critical strike portion of the skill while you still have the bonus hp.

Reincarnation

File:Dota 2 sk2 reincarnation.png

• Ability: Passive
• Reincarnation Time: 3
• Mana Cost: 140
• Cooldown: 260 / 160 / 60

Reincarnation lets Skeleton King revive himself when he dies, regaining all of his hp and mana as well as slowing enemies near him by 30% for 4 seconds upon death. This ability will activate even when you're Silenced, as long as you have enough mana and the ability is not in cooldown. This is why Skeleton King is so hard to kill. Being able to revive himself every minute makes him even more durable. The mana cost is also relatively cheap for such a powerful ability, only using up as much mana as a Hellfire Blast.